1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a hair iron and, more particularly, to a hair iron which makes both curling and straightening of the hair easy.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a hair iron is a tool used to shape various kinds of hairstyles with the help of heat and is widely used in hairdressing salons.
In such a hair iron, a hot portion which is highly heated and comes in contact with the hair is formed like a flat plate or formed as a curved surface like the side surface of a cylinder or rod. In general, it has been known that the flat plate type is advantageous for straightening the hair and that the curved surface type is suitable for curling the hair.
The hot portion is generally provided with a means for closely holding the hair on that portion in order to make the shaping of the hair convenient and efficiently transfer heat therebetween.
Thus, the conventional plate type hair iron includes a pair of upper and lower casings, which are coupled with each other such that the assembly rotates at a certain angle about a hinge axis while elements such as a hinge, a spring and the like are provided in the longitudinal ends of the casings. Further, heater plates are provided on inner surfaces (i.e. opposite surfaces) of the upper and lower casings longitudinally opposite to the hinge in order to transfer heat, so that the hair is shaped while being picked up between the heater plates.
Further, inner covers are provided on inner surfaces of the upper and lower casings proximal to the hinge so as to cover a conducting wire, which extends from an external source to an electric device such as a heater installed in the side of the heater plate, and a control circuit.
In the flat plate type hair iron, the heater plate is configured such that a heater is provided on the surface opposite the hair-contact surface so as to generate heat and transfer the heat to the heater plate. Here, upon installation in the casings, the heater and the heater plate are installed not to directly come into contact with the casings in such a manner that they are installed in a holder, which is composed of heat-resistant synthetic resin, and the holder is separately inserted into the casings.
A main body of the cylinder type hair iron, in which the rod or cylinder type portion comes in contact with the hair so as to curl the hair, comprises grip portions held by a hand and rod or cylinder type heating sections which come in contact with the hair for heating when viewing the main body in a longitudinal direction. A clamp is installed on the main body using a hinge, a spring, and the like in order to make the hair fixedly adhere between the heating sections. The clamp is operated so that when a portion in the side of the grip portions is forcedly held with the hand or is released from being held, the remaining portion of the grip portion moves closer towards or farther away from the heating sections with a lever system.
In the plate type hair iron, since a flat plate type heater plate is installed on the inner surfaces of the upper and lower casings and applies heat to the hair, the plate type hair iron is not suitable for curling the hair. That is, if a user curls the hair using the plate type hair iron, it is difficult to, first, obtain a natural curling hairstyle because of the shape of the plate which the hair makes contact with, and secondly to make the hair smoothly slide along the surfaces of the plates because the hair is intensively curled only at edges of the wide ends of the plates, which causes the hair to become damaged or pulled out, or the scalp to suffer pain.
On the contrary, if the curved type hair iron straightens the hair, it is difficult to implement efficient heating because the contact area between the curved heating section and the hair is very small.
Therefore, it is difficult or problematic to straighten and curl the hair at the same time using a single hair iron of the plate type or the curved type. However, for the general public, purchasing various kinds of hair irons for curling and straightening the hair is inefficient because of high purchasing expense, large storage space, and particularly, it being inconvenient to carry the hair irons.